Preytorien

i still can't cast with one hand.

I know I'm "not supposed to do it" but I use very light (15lb) braid for spybaits. I can't often purchase lures this expensive, and I don't want to get in the habit. So for me it's easier to just use braid so I'm more confident in the off chance I'd snag something. I wouldn't want to lose a $15 lure because I snagged a stick on my 4lb flouro. I've not noticed any catch decrease from it, although I do have to wait a couple more seconds to let it sink, and have to reel it a bit slower to keep it from rising in the water column too quickly. But yea, Duo makes great stuff, I just don't want to have to buy it very often!

i agree with a post above to use a straight shank offset hook. I have found the hookup ratio to be much higher since the hook will exit the back of the fluke at an angle upon hookset. Get some Trokars or Lazers......that fish ain't goin' nowhere!

....but this is one of the biggest Lake Trout I've ever seen....that guy is one happy dude! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DohOJVc2j6s

i don't, but i agree with you, they look sweet

My wife broke the last 6 inches off my Shimano Clarus....which I really liked. I didn't want to spend too much on what at the time was my backup spinning rig, so I bought a used Gen 1 Shimano Compre......now it's hands-down my favorite spinning rod. I put a Stradic FJ on it and I'll often pick that one up before any of my other higher-end rigs. The balance and comfort is perfect.

Probably for me would be NetBait Paca Craws.....rigged weightless. Much like a senko, they just seem to catch lethargic bass on hot summer days. And they're cheap!

This is pretty true. I live pretty much immediately north of Indy, and within an hour drive there aren't any lakes that will light the woods on fire. There's decent fishing in some places, but most days you just get skunked because there is SO much pressure. I looked it up a while back, and of the decent sized reservoirs (1500+ Acres) around here, there are only about 4 within an hour. Factor in how many boating anglers hit them, it's no wonder they look at our lures and laugh. I feel too that finesse fishing here is so much more productive. I know guys that do tournaments every weekend and don't even have cranks in the boat. I look at the videos online and just WISH all those methods and techniques worked here. Maybe they'll work from time to time, but not consistently. I fish frequently with a guy who has fished all over the country and says he's never been more frustrated than in Indiana, it's just tough....every...single....time. Lately I've just been hitting a lot of neighborhood retention ponds. Those fish only usually see kids and worms, so they're more likely to take lures. Plus they're stocked, clean, easy to get to, and many times have good bass, cover, structure, the whole bit.....so I'll take it. Sure it's not Geist in a $70K boat, but at least I'm catching SOMETHING

A friend of mine was at an auction the other day, and picked me up a "fish finder" as he called it. Turns out it's a Humminbird Sixty. Looks pretty old to me. I'm not very knowledgeable about electronics as 90% of my fishing tends to be from the banks. So I don't know anything about this thing. It doesn't look like any fish finder I've ever seen. What would I use it for? Any info would be helpful. Keep in mind, I know basically nothing about electronics other than what I've seen on TV shows and stuff.

I've always had great luck with the tried and true Jitterbug in black. Some days i'll catch fish after fish on that......warm summer evening.....*sigh.....can you tell it's winter here in Indiana yet?

This past year, specifically the fall, saw me have more success than ever using hard baits. I had luck with jerkbaits, stickbaits, shallow cranks, and lipless cranks. I'm excited to further utilize cranks this coming season. What kind of cranks would you suggest during the various seasons - pre-spawn, spawn, post-spawn, summer, fall, winter?

I Just got the hang of swimming a jig late this fall. I use the Chartruse Shad color, with a white head.....seemed at times they couldn't resist it.

I'm in the same boat as some other posts..... I have a local shop, but the prices are so expensive, not to mention they've got one of those "$5 credit card limits" on all purchases. It's not usually a problem though as I rarely see anything in there less than $5. I just can't justify a $7 Strike King jig when ever our local Wal-Mart has them for $3.50. I mean....c'mon. I'm all about small business though don't get me wrong - I frequent a coffee shop here in town that's homegrown while we have a Starbucks right down the road. But when small business marks up that much, I can't justify the extra cost just so I feel better about myself. My purchases usually come from TW. Bass Pro is good but I've never ordered anything from them that didn't take 10 days to get to me....in central Indiana. Now we have a Cabela's coming in within the next year or so....I foresee this being a bad thing for my paycheck.

So Christmas came a bit early for me, I took advantage of Mike Siebert's sale and ordered some of these infamous Rage Bugs I've been seeing all over the place. I rarely do any punching, so would you recommend rigging it T-rig? Weightless? Or is this one of those baits that works pretty much any way you rig it?

Man, that'd be a killer wading setup for smallmouth where I live. Maybe one day......

I just got Hawgtechs this past summer, and the biggest thing I noticed is that I can throw light lures (1/4oz or less) considerably farther. To me that's worth it, I can actually see a couple times that's caught me a few more fish.

Two..... Stella / NRX Spinning rig (for smallmouth) Antares / Adrena casting rig

As much as I would've liked to stay and fish, man o man.....that chicken dinner was great!

I've been having great success this year swimming a Dredge Brush jig in Chartruse Shad / White head Swim it and pop it every once in a while

If you're a frequent reader of the site, and particularly in the fall/winter, you'll see many readers complaining about the lack of success beyond about October. Well, none have been as frusturated as me it seems......however..... Today I bundled up in the balmy 38F / 25mph wind day here in central IN and did a bit of fishing. We had a very good deal of rain yesterday, so the water was pretty cloudy. I used a diving stickbait and ended up catching 4 pretty decent ones within about an hour. I wish I could've stayed longer, but the wife was making pan-fried chicken, and I couldn't be late for that! So I guess I can't complain anymore until I get stumped in the pre-spawn, LOL

My buddy got stopped minutes before we were going to launch. I told him early in the year to get his license, he just spaced it. The CO was very friendly, and didn't do anything since we hadn't actually fished yet. Told him a local place to get a license and then told him to tell him he sent him and to issue the license for 2 years instead of 1. Nice guy. My brother-in-law got stopped with me once. The CO's just asked his name, drivers license number, and birthdate and confirmed it over the radio, but gave him a good talkin' to about having it on his person.

I was able to get out and fish for a couple of hours today. Our local river was low, and very very clear. You could see a bunch of smallmouth positioned in the current facing upstream, literally almost stacked on top of each other. I threw all kinds of slow-moving baits at them since the water is less than 40F. But none bit. You could run the lure down their lateral line, and all they'd do is kind of move out of the way, as though the lure was just a nuisance. Even when I dropped flukes, jigs, jerkbaits, etc right in front of their noses, they never acted interested in it. What can I do to get these guys to bite?

This year was the year of the fluke for me. I had tried and tried these guys for a couple years, and saw so many people having stories of success. Then I went out with a guy who used them, saw how he worked them, bought some SK Swim'n Caffeine Shad's and lit them up ever since. They're one of my confidence lures, especially rigged weightless, ran just below the surface.

So maybe I'm a bit obsessive, but lately (this season), one of my compulsions is to re-seat the line of what ever rig(s) I used on a particular fishing outing. I'm mostly a bank fisherman, so I can't run the line out behind a boat, so I tie the end of my line to a tree branch, walk until it's down to the spool, then wind it back up as tight as I can. I figure this is a good way to ensure my line is staying wound properly on the spool, it also allows me to check the line for knicks/cuts/frays. Anyone else do this or am I just OCD about it?

Here's one for you guys that know cold weather / winter fishing. In my neighborhood there's a very small pond, probably 150 yards long by 50 yards wide. Almost no one fishes this pond because in summer/spring there are so many weeds around the edges that it's tough for the bobber fishing crowd to do much. Additionally, the pond only gets about 5ft deep at the very deepest, which is only on one end of the pond, and occupies a small portion of the pond space. The rest of the pond varies from 3ft to much much shallower. Weeds all along the bottom since the sun penetrates down. Weeds along the edges, except right now they're all brown and dead. During summer they can be caught in the weeds. Spring they're on beds. Where do these fish migrate to in the fall/winter? I can fish the whole pond in 30 minutes covering it very thoroughly, but I've never caught anything there in cold temps. When I first started fishing it last March I figured there weren't any fish in it, then happened to fish it in summer and landed a couple VERY nice fish, well over 4lbs. I could also see bluegill and some bass fry in there, so apparently the ice over doesn't kill everything off. So where do I fish? What do I fish with?